Nah Sony have actually said they don't want to announce any details till after Microsoft has; they said they don't want to risk the competitor making last min changes to ensure they aren't left behind in technologically etc. I think it stems back to when Sony annonced the CEL etc for the ps3 last gen Microsoft went to IMB and used the SPu design of the CELL in their design, only like 3 of them and in a different structure etc but it still pissed sony off apparently at the time. Fair enough if they don't want to risk it; if they come out the gate with something really new and innovative and powerful then it might make sense why they didn't want their competitors to know till it was too late- downside is tat you have less time between announcement and release for the hype train to gain as much momentum as possible

"Currently Microsoft has sold 74.25 million consoles worldwide while Sony has sold 72.49 PlayStation 3 consoles worldwide. Sony did however just out ship the Xbox 360 worldwide, totaling 77 million units shipped opposed to Microsoft’s 76 million units."

Sigh.. once again manufacturers don't track when consumer electronics are sold to the end customer, they are considered sold when they are sold to a retailer or distributor.

And even if you refuse to believe that, no retailer keeps months of stock on hand, so even if you want to say the number is shipped rather than sold then in a couple of weeks that shipped number will be the sold number.

Sorry to burst your avatar but no they are not in the driver seat. In fact nobody is. The days of the PS2 dominating the field are long gone. In fact the playing field has changed since then. Game publishers are driven by sales and we now have a much broader market of potential customers. It's no longer aimed at just the hardcore gamer. So while the Wii started off strong it has in recent years started to fizzle. That doesn't mean the more casual gamer is gone from the equation.

Look, no matter how many exclusives Sony provides for your enjoyment they still don't control the market. In fact it's anyone's guess how the next gen will unfold. There are reasons why it may be beneficial for Sony to wait. They still have the PS3 to push and Vita to market. They are also not as financially stable to keep releasing new products. Lastly and more importantly is the Xbox 360 is more dated than the PS3 so it is Microsoft who should flinch first anyways.

Sorry but from a Neutral Nintendo point of view , Sony is not in the driving seat for many reasons.

A- They are in a horrible shape financialy and can' afford to take any risks and now have the Vita looming over their shoulders B- Nintendo Have the big popular first party IP and it's hard for Sony to compete with them on that front look at PSABR and PS move for example C- Microsoft is the hottest thing in USA right now with Developers prioritising development for the xbox and not the playstation.

All American third party support in the 8th gen is once again going to be more optimized on the next Xbox.

Technically the Xbox 360 differentiate itself pretty well from the PS3, with a well developed online network (with cross game chat and later party chat among other things), achievements first and Kinect.

Kinect might have been fueled by Nintendo's motion control, but none the less it is a huge differentiating factor from Nintendo compared to PS Move.

Sony this entire generation spent their time copying the competition while MS and Nintendo led in their own way.

@extermin8or There is not much Sony or Microsoft could change in regards to specs to counter the competition if we are talking even a couple months. It would cost millions upon millions just to change one component and that's not even mentioning the R&D. Sony can't afford that right now and they are just posturing. Microsoft is in the better position to do that right now.

-change the amount or speed of memory -offer a feature not thought of initially instead of adding it in later. -increase the clock speed of the CPU or possibly upgrade it to another one within the same class and pin structure(like PC CPU's are capable of doing) -increase the hard drive size -increase the read speed of the Blu-ray -add an additional service for free they first sought to monetize -change the initial asking price -increase the clock speed or use a better GPU in the same class as their currently designed one...similar to CPU above. -or decide they have to change nothing

Not everything means a major redesign of the system, and I think his comment was more about having to see what the competition was offering before reacting to it.

Granted...what they have hardware wise is probably what we're going to get at this late stage. Only change would be if the PS3 is significantly less powerful than the 720. However, I'm pretty confident that both companies know what the other is going to offer already...or at least close to it. They have really good researchers, and buy tech off each other which could give them a decent idea of what is to be.

Well written? Lol.. The article was based on a bias stand of a myth, with the lack of foundation, facts, and superstitions of a view. Not even analyst dare to sugest what will be the right move. Im a Sony suporter and even I can tell he was incoherent and looking for hits. I see it as is, the more they wait the less sales they have during that period, does not takes a genius to know that in order for you to sale a product it has to be in the market. The sooner MSD its out in the market the faster they will earned more gamers that can only afford 1 console, its a fact temptation will be there. Waiting for someone else to show its not a positive thing, it only shows incompetenced and lack of security in your own products. Less powerfull console does not equal less sales. I support sony for their gaming knowledge of producing rich content of new exciting gaming titles, not for their waiting on their rears, to see what their competitor does. Mark this day, Sony and MS will be so similar to each other this gen, that the transfer will be nearly identical, they both have 8 core cpu from the same company, if rumors are to be believe ram are the same, sony with 5gb ddr5 and ms with 8 ddr 3. ddr 5 runs 2x faster but does not carry as much, DDR5 is like having 1x ddr5 = 2ddr3. They are so similar that by comparison the main thing making the changes will occur with the GPU and how much edram will be used on the system. Either way, I dont care, cause to run most pc games its almost always been less than 4, meaning the consoles will be able to do what they can in a better scale, since they are for gaming. I hate rumors, but its all one can do till the facts comes out lol... And the articke was garbage in my own opinion, just more flamebait, for those that wants to argue and establish an escape to the virtual BS of gaming.

Copy? Name me one thing that ps3 copied the Xbox 360? 1. Ps3 had wifi at launch built in. Xbox didn't you have to buy it. 2. Ps3 you could upgrade with any compatible hardrive at launch. Xbox you have to buy microsoft hard drives. 3. Ps3 you can use third party peripherials. Xbox you have to use licensed peripherials. 4. Ps3 had bluray. Xbox had DVD. 5. Ps3 had hdmi at launch. Xbox don't. 6. Ps3 was more powerful then the Xbox. 7. Xbox have impressive software I agree but the first two years. But after that Sony had more impressive exclusives and software. I own both consoles but your comment make you an immature dumbass.

O_o sorry the OS was not great on the xbox, whereas the XMB has won several design awards and awards for just generally being awesome :p It may feel old now but it's still very practical and usable and looks nice- also it's served the ps3 well over it's lifetime with new stuff being able to be easily added without making it feel really confused or cluttered...

To me the only reasons they won't launch it first, either they got something big that they don't want M$ to copy, or they are not confident in their product, and will wait for M$ to release it to upgrade it better than the NEXTBOX.

What if now Ms knowingly takes Sony financial into a account & out does them with money & specs. Then what. As for the software yes does lack but they have opened & bought first party studio's,yes some may be for kincet ,some may not. Yes some studios are unknown but hey it an improvement. As for me I will buy no matter what.

Well I doubt MS and Sony aren't both predicting what the other will do but I can't imagine either will see an announcement and change the specs of their system. More likely Sony's marketing team will take their cues from whatever MS says to better distinguish their console in the market. Maybe features will change down the road depending on where each company goes but both MS and Sony probably have their launch plans completely solid by now.

Waiting a year won't drastically change the hardware anyway. giving devs only one year because you decided to change hardware t be slightly more powerful than Xbox is kinda silly. I say launch this year and compete. You have the exclusives so why not g head to head with Microsoft instead waiting a year and allowing them to drop the price when you come out. (Assuming we are talking about a year wait.)

I think Sony is kidding themselves if they think they will have any hardware superiority this generation. Here's why.

AMD is making Sony's parts. AMD parts are the basis for Microsoft's parts. But Microsoft has their own chip engineers and partners with AMD on their APUs. So MS has access to everything Sony will, but Sony doesn't have access to everything MS has. The APU in the current 360 was developed by MS and though it uses the same ATI/IBM parts, it is a more powerful chip. MS has developed some real insight into making powerful APUs and have been working on them since 2004-05.

Then there are tools and OS. The next Xbox will be Windows 8 based. Windows 8 is developed with multi-core HSA systems in mind. C++ AMP was developed with APUs in mind. That will make games easier to program and smooth running. Having both the software expertise and CPU/GPU expertise gives the next Xbox an advantage I think will be hard for Sony to overcome.

I think the next Xbox will have a fully functioning HSA chip in it. More than one in fact. A very powerful one. And a less powerful one for apps and other things. But the power of both can be used as needed. AMDs own roadmap doesn't call for them to have a production fully HSA APU until 2014. If Sony intends to wait to see the next Xbox or it's specs. That might be why.

If the Xbox has full HSA, anything Sony releases this year will lag behind. The only problem with waiting is MS can announce general parts, but not any real specifics just like Nintendo did. MS could also hold back optimized software until late in the game. First gen games are never to the fullest capabilities of the machine. Games being made now might be running without all of the HSA features going. So an Xbox pushing 1.23 teraflops might be what it seems to run now, but with full HSA, that could be boosted to 3 to 4 teraflops. Even more.

But even if MS is no further along than AMD on HSA. MS still should have an OS and tools advantage.